Renters Rights on Carpets & Painting

Dusty carpets and moldy walls can be health hazards.

A fresh paint job and new carpeting may be all a dingy living room or dining room needs to make it more hospitable. If you're renting, though, it's usually up to the landlord to make those kinds of improvements. States such as California require landlords to keep the premises habitable, and in those states you may be able to deduct the improvements from the rent if, without them, living on the premises is hazardous.

Responsibility for Repairs

Before you move into a rental unit, an implied warranty of habitability ensures it has no physical or health hazards, such as loose floorboards, gas leaks or undisposed waste. Throughout your tenancy, the implied warranty requires the landlord to repair any conditions that become hazardous. By signing a lease agreement, you also agree to keep the property clean and in livable condition and to repair any damage that results from your negligent use of the property. The terms of this shared responsibility are spelled out in the lease agreement, and you usually must provide a damage deposit.

Hazardous Conditions

Among the conditions that can render a rental unit uninhabitable, and for which the landlord is normally responsible, are electrical malfunctions, large plumbing leaks and ineffective safety equipment, such as loose stair handrails. These conditions arguably also include lead-based paint and mold. Units older than about 50 years are likely to have lead paint on the walls, and if the paint is peeling off, it could be ingested by anyone living there. The toxicity of lead-based paint is well established. Mold doesn't affect everyone in the same way, but it can cause adverse reactions in people who are sensitive to it, and for those people, it constitutes a health hazard.

Your Options as a Tenant

Once you have determined that the old paint job or the moldy carpet are hazardous, it is within your rights to contact the landlord and demand that he correct the situation. If you can't make contact, the landlord doesn't reply or he refuses your demand, the laws of some states, including California, allow you to do the repairs yourself and pay for them from the rent, as long as the repairs cost less than one month's rent. You have the right to abandon the premises and stop paying rent if the repairs cost more than that. Both of these remedies assume you have given the landlord reasonable time to act on your demands.

Considerations

A landlord is not required to keep a unit in aesthetically pleasing condition, so if you want him to pay for new paint and carpet, you must have positive proof that the existing conditions constitute a health risk, and you must notify him of that fact in writing. If you choose this adversarial route, you may end up in court, and any damage to the property that has resulted from your use of it may count against you. It's preferable to negotiate in more positive terms, explaining the problem and offering solutions to help offset the cost. If it's a matter of aesthetics, though, and the landlord simply doesn't want to change the paint or carpets, you're out of luck.